What is Urban Theory? How can it be used to understand our urban experiences? Experiences typically defined by enormous inequalities, not just between cities but within cities, in an increasingly interconnected and globalised world. This book explains:

1. WHAT IS URBAN THEORY? Urban Studies and Urban Theory What is Urban? What is Theory? And So What on Earth is Urban Theory?2. URBAN THEORIES UNDER CONDITIONS OF MODERNITY The Chicago School and Urban Ecology Urban Geography and Spatial Analysis The Community Power Debate Humanistic (Urban) Geography 'Radical' Approaches The Legacy of Previous Theories and Their Challenges3. FROM THE URBAN CRISIS TO THE 'TRIUMPH OF THE CITY' Cities as Actors in a Globalising Economy Urban Decline and Obsolescence Urban Economic Renaissance Discussion4. CAN CITIES ACT? URBAN POLITICAL ECONOMY AND THE QUESTION OF AGENCY The Rediscovery of Agency Within Urban Theory Introducing American Urban Political Economy Urban Regimes and Growth Machines The Normative Dimension Critiques and Applications5. SPATIAL EXPRESSIONS OF INTRA-URBAN INEQUALITIES Inequalities Versus Differentiations: Vertical and Horizontal Paradigms Cities as Sites of Resources: Space and Inequalities Segregation Suburbanization Gentrification Ghettoization as a Spatial Process of Marginalization Neighbourhood Effects: Spatial Profit and Disadvantage6. SPATIAL EXPRESSION OF DIFFERENTIATION The Cultural Turn The City as a Realm of Community and Lifestyle The Subcultural Thesis The Representational City: Public Space Cultural Diversity: Identities in Public Space Conclusion: Cities as Matrix of Resources7. URBAN THEORY RECONSIDERED The 'Crisis' in Urban Theory Revisited The Performance of Theories The Commensurability of Theories Theory, Politics and Practice A New Urban Agenda?